Rally

[ad_1] Upgrade for free today You have 10 articles remaining to view this month. Toyota driver Ott Tanak has revealed he effectively retired from the World Rally Championship when first dropped by M-Sport. Tanak was shown the door by Malcolm Wilson’s team after a turbulent 2012 season (pictured above) and has admitted he turned his

[ad_1] Kris Meeke says his Monte Carlo Rally powerstage win does not hide the fact the Citroen World Rally Championship outfit needs things to “completely change” to win the event again. Meeke finished fourth overall on the WRC season opener following a final-stage off for Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi and won the powerstage to end the

[ad_1] Reigning World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson will contest next month’s Rally Sweden in a Skoda Fabia R5. The Swede started his home round of the World Rally Championship in 2016 but this will be the first time he competes in a car capable of winning its class. Kristoffersson almost had to pass up the

[ad_1] Toyota’s double Monte Carlo Rally podium eclipsed the two wins it scored in the World Rally Championship last season, according to team principal Tommi Makinen. Ott Tanak pressured eventual winner Sebastien Ogier before finishing second on his debut for Toyota, with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala third. Esapekka Lappi was set to make it a 2-3-4

[ad_1] Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan says his team cannot afford to panic after a problematic 2018 World Rally Championship-opening Monte Carlo Rally. Thierry Neuville was the highest placed Hyundai finisher in fifth place, but the title hopeful’s rally was compromised when he slid into a ditch on the first stage and lost four minutes.

[ad_1] Renault Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr said his father warned him “about 100 times” to be careful ahead of driving the final two stages of the Monte Carlo Rally last Sunday. Sainz Jr drove a Renault Megane R.S. course car on the Col de Turini and Col de Braus stages of the 2018

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier kicked off the 2018 World Rally Championship season with a commanding victory on the Monte Carlo Rally. Ogier led from the very beginning despite spinning on a chaotic, ice-affected, first stage, but his advantage over 2017 WRC team-mate Ott Tanak yo-yoed across Friday and Saturday. A spin into a ditch on Friday

[ad_1] World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier is just two stages away from kicking off his bid for a sixth-straight title with victory on the Monte Carlo Rally. The M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC driver had his lead trimmed to just over half a minute at the end of Saturday’s running, but it is back out to

[ad_1] Carlos Sainz claimed his second Dakar Rally win earlier this month with victory for Peugeot. After his victory, the 55-year-old rallying legend was interviewed by Peter Windsor for the latest episode of Motorsport.tv show The Flying Lap. In this clip from the interview, Sainz explains how he prepared for the event and offers some

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier will take a lead of more than half a minute into the final day of the 2018 World Rally Championship’s season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. The reigning champion’s advantage was halved from its largest point as Toyota’s Ott Tanak continued to apply the pressure, having fallen back on the day’s opening stage. While

[ad_1] Ott Tanak hacked a third out of Sebastien Ogier’s Saturday morning Monte Carlo Rally advantage to get the gap at the top down to 39.5 seconds. Tanak dropped back from Ogier dramatically at the start of the day with what he claimed was a damper problem, and was more than a minute behind going

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier’s Monte Carlo Rally lead ballooned to more than a minute after the first two Saturday stages, despite damaging a wheel. The reigning world champion started the day 14.9s clear but smashed his main rival Ott Tanak on a devilishly tricky 18-mile opening stage topped by Andreas Mikkelsen. Ogier broke part of the

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier’s Monte Carlo Rally lead is down to 14.9 seconds after a mistake on Friday afternoon allowed Ott Tanak to close in. Tanak had already taken six seconds out of Ogier’s advantage on the loop’s first stage, but then began to lose all that time and more to Ogier in heavy rain on

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier stretched his Monte Carlo Rally lead as second place changed hands repeatedly on the first daylight stages of the 2018 World Rally Championship opener. Ogier had been 17 seconds clear of Andreas Mikkelsen’s Hyundai following Thursday’s night stages, but his advantage immediately grew when Mikkelsen overshot a junction on Friday’s first stage

[ad_1] Sebastien Ogier leads the 2018 World Rally Championship-opening Monte Carlo Rally overnight despite spinning on a chaotic, ice-affected, first stage that caught out most drivers. Ogier’s 2017 WRC title rival Thierry Neuville had the most costly incident of any in the top class and is already more than four minutes adrift. Starting the season

[ad_1] Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville started the 2018 World Rally Championship with the fastest time in shakedown ahead of the Monte Carlo Rally. The Belgian won Wednesday afternoon’s shakedown stage with a fastest time of 2m00.2s, edging his fellow i20 WRC driver Dani Sordo by a tenth of a second. Neuville, who won the final

[ad_1] Carlos Sainz admits his cross-country rally stint with Peugeot would have ended with a “bad taste” if he failed to score a Dakar win for himself. Sainz, who won his first Dakar in 2010 with Volkswagen, joined Peugeot ahead of its return to the event for the ’15 edition. While his team-mate Stephane Peterhansel

[ad_1] Renault Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz will make his rallying debut at this week’s World Rally Championship season-opener in Monte Carlo. The 23-year-old will drive one of the organisers’ Renault Megane R.S. course cars through the 8.5-mile Col de Braus powerstage on Sunday. Sainz will be running ahead of the main field in the

[ad_1] Hayden Paddon will contest five national rallies at home in New Zealand to stay sharp in gaps in his seven-round World Rally Championship programme with Hyundai. Paddon is sharing Hyundai’s third i20 Coupe WRC with Dani Sordo this season while Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen contest every round. “I’m not going to pretend I

[ad_1] Dakar winner Carlos Sainz believes his son, Formula 1 racer Carlos Jr, took “revenge” on him this month for all the advice he has given him during his single-seater career. Sainz Sr has been a regular fixture at his son’s side during his rise from karting to F1, and he still attends grands prix

[ad_1] Rally legend Carlos Sainz has scored his second Dakar victory in the 2018 edition of the event. Two-time World Rally champion Sainz had not finished any of the prior three Dakars he had contested as a Peugeot works driver, yet 2018 proved fourth time lucky for the Spaniard. Having survived a high-attrition opening leg

[ad_1] Carlos Sainz has edged closer to his second Dakar Rally victory, but his Peugeot team is set to miss out on a one-two finish following a penultimate stage crash for Stephane Peterhansel. Peterhansel was 45 minutes behind Sainz and 20 clear of Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah heading into Friday’s San Juan – Cordoba stage, which

[ad_1] Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah beat Peugeot rival Stephane Peterhansel to top the longest timed special of the 2018 Dakar Rally, as Carlos Sainz edged closer to overall victory. Al-Attiyah was two minutes quicker than Peterhansel through the 325-mile run between Chilecito and San Juan on the 12th day of the two-week marathon. X-Raid Mini pair

[ad_1] Teemu Suninen believes he has a chance to expand his part-time M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship programme beyond the currently planned eight 2018 rounds. After impressing with top-six finishes on his first two outings in the WRC’s top class in an additional M-Sport entry last year, WRC2 graduate Suninen has been rewarded with a

[ad_1] Stephane Peterhansel has given up on taking a 14th Dakar Rally victory this year, conceding that Peugeot team-mate Carlos Sainz can’t be caught over the final three stages. Peterhansel looked set to add to his remarkable tally of Dakar wins at the end of the first week, sitting a comfortable 27 minutes clear of

[ad_1] Dakar Rally leader Carlos Sainz has had his 10-minute penalty rescinded, after Peugeot presented new evidence regarding his earlier run-in with quad bike rider Kees Koolen. Koolen had lodged a complaint to Dakar in the aftermath of the La Paz – Uyuni stage, alleging that he was hit by the Peugeot and that Sainz

[ad_1] Toyota driver Bernhard ten Brinke topped the 11th stage of the 2018 Dakar Rally, as Carlos Sainz marginally extended his overall lead ahead of Peugeot team-mate Stephane Peterhansel. Ten Brinke was the pacesetter for most of the day’s running en route to wrapping up his second ever Dakar stage win, the first having come

[ad_1] Ott Tanak says he needed to move to Toyota for the 2018 World Rally Championship season because he felt stuck as a number two behind Sebastien Ogier at M-Sport. Tanak left M-Sport at the end of 2017 after six WRC seasons with the Ford squad, having finished third in the drivers’ standings last year